East Ambae language

East Ambae
Spoken in Ambae, Vanuatu
Native speakers 5,000  (1991)
Language family
Language codes
ISO 639-3 omb

East Ambae (also known as Omba, Oba, Aoba, Walurigi, Lolovoli, Northeast Aoba, and Northeast Ambae) is an Oceanic language spoken on Ambae, Vanuatu. The data in this article will concern itself with the Lolovoli dialect of the North-East Ambae language.

Contents

Phonology

North-East Ambae distinguishes 5 vowels and 16 consonants, shown in the tables below.

Consonants[1]
Bilabial Alveolar Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Voiceless Stop t k
Prenasalised Voiced Stop ᵐb ⁿd ᵑg ᵑgʷ
Nasal m n ŋ mʷ
Fricative β s h
Tap/Trill r
Lateral Approximant l
Glide w
Vowels[2]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Morphology

Pronominals

In Ambae there are four different pronominal forms, one set of free forms, independent pronouns and three sets of bound forms, subject proclitics, object enclitics and possessive suffixes. All sets of pronominals distinguish between singular, dual and plural and between inclusive and exclusive in the first person. Independent pronouns are preceded by the personal article when the head of a noun phrase.

Independent Pronouns

Person Number
Singular Dual Plural
1INC gideru gide
1EXCL neu gamaru gamai
2 niko gimiru gimiu
3 ngie garue ngire

Subject Proclitics

The subject proclitic is the first part of a verb phrase and can attach to an aspect, mood, negative particle or verb head.[4] Dual forms cliticise to the marker ru. In Lolovoli, no= is applied when cliticised in 1st person exclusive singular.

Person Number
Singular Dual Plural
1INC da=ru da=
1EXCL na=, no= ga=ru ga=
2 go= ne=ru ne=
3 Ø, na=, vi= ra=ru ra=

Examples:

Go=ni inu rongo na malogu
2SGS=IRR drink feel ACC kava
"You will taste the Kava"
Da=hivo da=si~siu
1NSG.INS=go.down 1NSG.INS=REDUP~fish
"Let's go down and fish."

Object Enclitics

Object enclitics occur when attached to the predicate head or last adverb in a verb phrase. These only occur in singular forms and all 3rd person forms.[5]

Person Number
Singular Dual Plural
1INC gideru gide
1EXCL =eu gamaru gamai
2 =go gimiru gimiu
3 =a =e =ra, =re =ra, =re

Examples:

Ra=u hui i gide
3NSG=TEL ask PERS 1NSG.IN
"They asked us."
Go=mese wehe i netu-ku
2SGS=DEHOR hit PERS child-1SGP
"Don't hit my children."

Possessive Suffixes

Possessive suffixes are attached to the head noun in a direct possessive construction, or a relational classifier in an indirect possessive construction.[6]

Person Number
Singular Dual Plural
1INC -da=ru -da, -de
1EXCL -ku -ma=ru -mai
2 -mu -me=ru -miu
3 -na, -ne =ra, =re =ra, =re

Examples:

Nago-mu u memea
face-2SGP TEL red
"Your face is red."
no-ku bue
CL.GEN-1SGP knife
"my knife"

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.28
  2. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.32
  3. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.95
  4. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.95
  5. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.96
  6. ^ Hyslop 2001, p.96

References

External links